• Question: Is there any possibility that a extraterrestrial being could invade the earth?

    Asked by Djenne to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 11 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      It is possible, but as far as we know there is a universal speed limit, the speed of light. So without some sort of break through, like Star Treks warp engines, it takes a long long time to get anywhere.
      The nearest star is over 4 years away at the speed of light, a speed we can’t get anywhere close to currently in a space ship.
      So – mounting an expedition from a distant star to the Earth is probably not going to be very productive for an alien species. Getting reinforcements and supplies would be tricky. Plus they may not even like Earth having grown up on a planet more like Mars or Venus or maybe even something much weirder!

      As we’ve seen no evidence of extraterrestrial life, I think all in all its unlikely.

    • Photo: Hugh Osborn

      Hugh Osborn answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Given the vastness of the universe, anything is possible! However, I think it is extremely unlikely. Despite listening to radio signals and looking for signs of life from our Galaxy for decades, we have no evidence of any other civilisations.

      It is also extremely difficult to travel between stars. There have been lots of studies into interstellar travel, for example to send unmanned probes to the nearest stars systems. Even when using exotic techniques like anti-matter or fusion engines, the spacecraft would take up a huge percentage of the entire Earth’s money and resources for decades to build. So I imagine only a tiny proportion of any alien civilisations will be able to make it to other stars.

      Plus, would hyper-advanced civilisations feel the need to take over a tiny insignificant planet like ours? We could be like tiny ants to them; would they really spend much time communicating with (or invading) ant’s nests?

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      Agreed! It would take an extremely long time to reach Earth from wherever there might be intelligent life. I don’t think they’d be too bothered about invading us.

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